Martin Réway keeps his goal of making the Canadiens alive

One of the biggest talents of Slovak hockey over the past few years, Martin Réway, has made another important step towards completing his dream. The 18-year-old has convinced the Montréal Canadiens coaches during the club’s rookie camp and will get an opportunity at the main training camp that begins this Wednesday.

For Réway, it was his second rookie camp of the season. He took part in the first one shortly after the draft, the second one took place from last Thursday till today. “The players we’re already in action for a couple of weeks, so this camp had more quality than the first one. Furthermore, we played for spots in the main camp, so you can easily imagine how motivated the players were” said Réway for slovakprospects.com directly from Montréal. “During the camp, we took part in tests on and off the ice. Of course we had some practices and we played three scrimmage games. It was really challenging,” added Réway, detailing the program of the camp.

Martin Réway (Photo: Johnathan Leger/HabsEyesOnThePrize.com)

Despite being possibly the most famous and prestigious club in the NHL, the Montréal Canadiens decided against sending its players to one of the prospect tournaments. “Montréal doesn’t want to send its players to these tournaments, because there’s a lot of fighting going on over there. They really play hard over there. Because we stayed in Montréal, the camp was seen by a big number of fans, not as much as the tournaments attract. Additionally, we were followed everywhere by the Montréal TV,” explained Réway the background of the decision of the Habs not to participate in rookie tournaments. Habs prospects played games against each other instead at the Bell Sports Complex, to gain some game experience.

The 18-year-old from Prague has joined the Montréal camp after spending his past few weeks with the Gatineau Olympiques, his major junior team with which he played in the past season. “We had mostly on-ice training sessions with the Olympiques, but we had some training off the ice, too. I wanted to get myself in the best possible form prior to the Canadiens camp, which I did,” said Réway.

Martin Réway (photo: personal archive)

That apparently helped to make his dream of playing in the NHL more realistic. The coaches were also satisfied with Réway. “They praised me. During the camp, I was bumped up from the third line to the first line, where I stayed for the remainder. I worked really hard this summer, which now shows in the results, for which I’m happy,” added Réway optimistically.

On Wednesday, Réway will undergo possibly the greatest challenge of his young career: the Montréal Canadiens training camp. “I will get some opportunities in the pre-season games, so now it’s all in my arms and legs. There is no writing on the wall saying I absolutely can not make the team, but I realize my chances are small. On the other hand, who would’ve said a month ago, that I’d make it this far?” said Réway, and added, “it’s awesome that I’m with such a great organization as the Canadiens. They try to give young players chances to show themselves. It’s a great feeling and I’m really happy, but I know that it’s only the beginning of my road and the real camp starts on Wednesday.”